K.A. Aysha Swapna, who took charge as the principal of Farook College on Wednesday, is also the grand-niece of K.M. Seethi, a former Assembly Speaker and Indian Union Muslim League veteran.
Seethi Sahib, as he is popularly known, was instrumental in setting up the college. Ms. Swapna is the first woman principal of the college in its 75 years of history. Farook College was set up on August 12, 1948, and it took nearly nine years for the first girl student to join the college. Now, around 70% of the students in the college are girls, according to the authorities.
She has been working as Associate Professor in the English department there. Her new appointment followed the retirement of the incumbent, K.M. Naseer. According to sources, Ms. Swapna joined the college in 2008. She did her BA (English) from St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam, MA from Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, and Ph.D from the University of Calicut. She is an author of many articles in academic journals. Her husband P.K. Maqbool is the Principal of JDT Arts and Science College, Kozhikode. They have two children, Adnan and Afreen.
